It’s unlikely Taylor Mays ever would go to Troy Polamalu-esque lengths with his hair. But that doesn’t mean Mays can’t become a Polamalu-like force on the football field.

The Super Bowl-bound former Trojan always seems to be around the ball, enabling him to make plays like the interception return for a touchdown (above) that sealed Pittsburgh’s victory over Baltimore in the AFC Championship Game. In 2001, his next-to-last season at USC, the perennial Pro Bowler pulled off the rare double-double of leading the team in tackles (118) and interceptions (3, tied with Kevin Arbet). Polamalu is the personification of a playmaker.

However, despite earning first-team All-America accolades in 2008, he had zero interceptions (giving him just one in the past two seasons).

Part of the reason is that teams seldom challenged Mays. Another is that Mays dropped some balls he should have caught; he did have a team-high nine pass deflections.

Mays’ returning to school was just as surprising — maybe even more so — than Mark Sanchez leaving. But perhaps Mays realized, despite the prospect of being a top-15 draft pick, that parts of his game still needed work.

Look for the coaches to deploy Mays in a greater variety of ways next season, something that will help him hone his instincts. Assuming everyone is healthy and eligible, USC has enough deep-safety options (Will Harris, Drew McAllister, even Josh Pinkard) to enable Mays to play near the line of scrimmage more — and develop his inner Troy Polamalu.